India’s medicine makers in logistical ‘mess’ as coronavirus crisis disrupts pharmaceutical supply chain
- World’s largest provider of generic drugs is seeing its pharmaceutical companies stagger shifts as factory workers fall ill and supplies from China are delayed
- Nearly a third of Indian factories that make active pharmaceutical ingredients are located in areas that were recently placed under pandemic-forced lockdowns
This is the second in a series of stories about the impact of India’s Covid-19 crisis on the Indian and Chinese economies, and the global initiative to restructure supply chains.
At a pharmaceutical facility in Goa, western India, more than 20 employees were recently diagnosed with Covid-19 in rapid succession, but there are no plans to suspend operations as the coronavirus spreads unabated through the country.
“At the end of the day, it is medication, so we have to continue our production,” said Kavita Coulagi, a director at Sigma Laboratories, a solely export-oriented generic and branded drug company. “What we have done is just reduced the number of people coming in, staggered shifts, had more stringent PPE requirements for the staff, and stepped up sanitisation measures.”
Coulagi’s moves are in line with those of other pharmaceutical manufacturers across India, which is currently averaging more than 4,000 coronavirus-related deaths every day.
The international interdependence of the [pharmaceutical] industry has contributed supply shortages, whereas earlier we had implicit faith in supply pipelines
In total, Covid-19 has sickened about 25 million people in the most populous democracy in the world, with the death toll approaching 280,000, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Centre.